Top 13 iOS Testing Framework

Numerous test automation technologies have emerged to cover the testing needs, as mobile development becomes more mainstream. We will discuss a few of the most well-liked frameworks for testing website for iOS smartphones, including their features, risks or weaknesses, strengths, and test coverage options. 

So here we go on the ride to discover the frameworks that made testing heaven. 

1- Bugfender

This tool is the best one to find your problems and then show you why those problems have happened. For the bugs that did not appear on your own devices, we use Bugfender to solve the problem. Earlier to solve this problem we need to get access physically to the device that is affected, or to describe it then you need users. Bugfender will log constantly, which helps to fetch more and more information for the developer- it gives a complete view of the performance of the application. It has the feature of a remote web console which allows drilling any specific user, devices, and locations. 

It is the best choice if you are looking for a test solution that is mobile friendly be it android or iOS. 

Pros- 

• Feature of remote logger – from any user’s device you can replicate any of the bugs. 
• Crash reporting (it is an inbuilt feature).
• For any specific device, you can allow the user to drill down. 
• In-App user feedback.
• Cross-platform tool.

Cons-

• Not a finished product.
• Not available for tvOS, web, and windows.

2- Appium 

Appium describes itself as an open-source test automation framework for use with native and mobile web apps and is supported by the OpenJS Foundation. It utilizes the WebDriver protocol to drive programs on iOS, Android, and Windows.

Pros-

• You can select your own underlying framework for unit testing, such as XCTest. Cross-platform support allows for the reuse of test scenarios across mobile and web channels.
• The ability to reuse test scenarios across the web and mobile channels is provided by cross-platform support.
• The framework is available for free.
• The industry standard for WebDriver is Appium.

Cons-

• Appium is dependent on a cascade of open source modules and each of the open source components that Appium depends on must be installed in a version that supports the others in order for it to function.

3- Apple Xcode Test

Create unit tests for your Xcode applications using the XCTest framework, which perfectly complements Xcode’s testing process. Tests make claims about the fulfillment of particular conditions during code execution, and if those claims are not true, they record test failures (with optional warnings). Additionally, tests can evaluate the performance of code blocks to look for performance regressions and can interact with the UI of an application to confirm user interaction flows.

Pros-

• It is quite simple to integrate tooling into the application.
• Offers performance, UI, and unit testing.
• Both Swift and Objective-C can be utilized so that developers may make use of their existing abilities.
• XCode can also automatically run tests as a “bot” in the CI/CD process on the Xcode server.

Cons-

• Testers will need to be more technical because XCode tests are “closer” to the code programming language.
• Xcode can make use of only Swift and Objective-C for programming

4- Calabash

Calabash is a system for automated testing of native and hybrid Android and iOS applications.

Calabash was created first by Xamarin, which is now a part of Microsoft, and made available as open source in April 2017. A maintainer is currently wanted for the project.

Pros-

•  BDD test cases are described using Cucumber. Given that they represent workflow and are understandable by both programmers and business people, BDD scenarios, with their “Given/When/Then” pattern, might be useful as a collaboration tool.
•  The ability to reuse test scenarios across iOS, Android, and conventional web applications are provided through cross-platform support.
•  Calabash is pre-programmed with a number of iOS default behaviors, including “Swipe left.”

Cons –

• Calabash’s support and future are uncertain.
• The previous sample merely describes the BDD possibilities. Even if the previous example uses BDD, someone still needs to create the action’s code, which will resemble the Appium example more.

5- Detox

We must implement continuous integration procedures in order to produce native mobile applications at a high rate, which implies we must rely less on manual quality assurance. Detox checks your mobile application while it is active on a genuine device or in a simulator, interacting with it exactly as a real user would.

Pros-

• Runs on both actual devices and emulators.
• Detox can run on anything that can run JavaScript and is independent of test runners.
• Contains async-await for step-throughs that run like production code, making it debuggable.
• Built for CI: The Continuous Integration loop is where Detox is intended to operate.

Cons-

• Detox is not nearly as well-known or supported as the tool sets from premium brands. 
• Does not operate on iOS physical devices (yet).

6- KIF

Keep It Functional: It is somewhat like the XCUI test, this framework is designed to test the user interface. As it is way connected to Xcode, it has various benefits like it automatically integrates with the projects of Xcode, which reduces your problems to use any additional web server or would even not let you burden up your memory by adding any more packages. Setting up KIF is way easy. All you need to do is to add a KIF pod to your project if XCTests has already been set up. It is even faster than the XC tools. The second best thing about KIF is that it is realistic. 

Pros-

• Real-life test condition.
• Synchronized with Apple.
• Zero cost.
• Set up is way simple.

Cons-

• Less variety in languages than XC testing tools (As it is written in objective-C).

7- EarlGrey

This iOS native UI automation test framework called EarlGrey makes it possible to create tests that are simple and to the point.

You can take advantage of more advanced synchronization options using the EarlGrey framework. Although EarlGrey synchronizes with the user interface, network requests, and other queues automatically, you can still manually implement specific timings if necessary.

Pros-

• Simple to integrate into an iOS project, either directly or using CacaoPods.
• Flexible framework with strong internal component synchronization characteristics.
• The entire framework is open source.
• Can be combined with Xcode.

Cons-

• EarlGrey, a Google product, is made to seamlessly interact with Google Analytics. You receive a free test result dashboard from the company in exchange for giving Google your test data.
• It is mandatory to integrate Google Analytics.

8- OCMock

In order to construct stub objects for your iOS app, OCMock offers a framework. It is available as a static library for iOS development or as a framework for OS X development.

Pros- 

• Uses Objective-C so developers may utilize their existing skill set 
• One of the simplest ways to add mock objects to existing unit tests 
• The entire framework is open source

Cons-

• OCMock is a tool for improving Xcode tests; it is not a complete test solution.

9- XCUITest

The free test automation framework for testing apps on Apple devices is called XCUItest. As an addition to the unit testing and framework for XCTest, the business released XCUITtest. The framework comes pre-installed with the Xcode IDE; it is not necessary to download it separately.

Because XCUITest is specifically geared for iOS UI testing, the framework excels at completing the task. XCUITest can run tests swiftly, dependably, and steadily because of its emphasis. All of the newest iOS UI enhancements are immediately supported by XCUItest.

Pros-

• One solution to several tests is offered by XCTest.
• Because they use the same language, testing is incredibly simple for iOS app developers.
• Compared to other iOS testing frameworks, the test execution is quicker.
• Given that the tester is familiar with Objective-C/Swift, XCTest has a small learning curve and is simple to understand.
• XCUITest offers the ability to record user interfaces and generate code from them.
• Dealing with CI/CD tools is simpler, and integration is easy.

Cons-

• Limited support for languages. Testers who are unfamiliar may need to go through a learning period, which might take some time.
• There is no cross-platform support for XCTest/XCUITest.
• Testing on XCTest can only be done by technical testers with a background in programming.
• XCTest/XCUITest does not allow deep linking.

10- Repeato

A low-code test automation framework for iOS and Android is called Repeato. It was created with consideration for test stability and test engineer expertise. Without coding, tests may be recorded in a short period of time. They may then be modified and stored in a library. On a CI/CD server, a test may be carelessly executed on a Mac, Windows, or individually or in batches.

Pros-

•  Exceptionally quick test creation.
• Repeato Studio is all you need and can be easily set up. It is plug and play.
• Has the ability to test code for iOS, Android, React-Native, Flutter, Iconic, and Native.
• Its “Script steps” give powerful functionality (Javascript or Command Line).

Cons- 

• Not a free source.
• No support for device farm (yet).

11- Testproject

It is a Selenium and Appium-based framework for iOS testing. This framework is the jack of all trades because it is fairly good for  Android, API testing, and web testing as well. Testproject is simpler as it will require you to have only two things – a developer account for Apple for any of the physical devices, Xcode and macOS for simulators, and a test project agent.

Pros-

• Quick as the minimum configuration is required.
• Easy to learn and execute.
• OS is independent which makes it possible to be used on Windows.
• Supports programming languages role C#, Python, Javascript, and  Java.

Cons-

• Late documentation release.
• You need coding skills.

12- Kobiton 

Kobiton is leading the industry in mobile test automation. Kobiton has two script flows one is script-based and scriptless. Scriptless is highly scalable because of its manual execute and capture approach. This feature makes it run once and test anywhere. Script-based takes the script of Appium and then without any difficult scripting, you can inject NOVA’s assertions. 

Pros-

• In scriptless, you can re-run the manual test around the library of real devices.
• In scriptless, without any code, you can move from manual to Appium.
• In a script-based, you can change the existing test script which is functional into visual tests, accessibility tests, crash identification tests, and performance tests.

Cons-

• The AI assist of Kobiton works only for Appium and doesn’t merge with other frameworks. 
• The granularity of parameterization is not achieved to that level by the scriptless than script-based ones.

13- Avo Assure

It doesn’t need any code, it is a heterogeneous test automation solution. You can test your application with a few clicks only. It has an easy-to-use interface and you can run your complete code without even writing any single code. It has a feature of Avo Assure, which helps you in making test cases and test plans which help you understand where exactly you are in the complete process. It has a feature named smart scheduling which helps you to implement many test cases in one VM. 

Pros- 

• Almost coverage of 90% automation with the heterogeneous approach.
• End-to-end implementation without any code.
• Mind Map feature makes it worthy.
• Testing time is decreased by 75% with the help of SAP accelerator packages.

Cons- 

• Updating mind map is difficult (to update the latest mind map a feature is introduced in the recent Avo Assure package)

What iOS Testing Framework Should You Use?

The iOS testing framework may come into play depending on your requirements and prior experience with other languages. Programmers who work on production software might be drawn to Xcode tools that support their chosen language, but programmers who work on test automation might be more attracted to tools that have a Selenium-like user interface and support Ruby or Python. To choose which framework is suitable for you, some tester creators might need to test each one.

In any case, the market is currently developed enough that there is a framework available that meets the needs of almost everyone and performs a wide range of tasks, whether you simply need to automate testing service calls in iOS or you want to run UI tests simultaneously across various mobile and web platforms.

Using LambdaTest for iOS automation testing

iOS application testing is made easy with LambdaTest, a cloud-based platform. With LambdaTest, app testers can accelerate their release cycles with a reliable, scalable, secure Appium test execution cloud. Using emulators, simulators, and real device clouds, you can also perform usability testing of your application. Additionally, you can access any device directly from your desktop browser. With Appium and XCUITest, you can automate iOS testing for free.